As they were heading North.
The Law Behemoths had given up on fighting one another, allowing the world to return to normal.
Since Shroud was injured, everyone moved along very slowly.
Fortunately, the healing expert girl had fully regained her power, so she was able to heal Shroud’s injuries once every hour.
After just half a day, Shroud’s injuries had begun to subside.
“Thank you, little Epta[1]” Shroud gratefully told her.
“It’s fine, I just hope you’ll be able to recover soon” the girl wiped the sweat from her forehead and said.
Her name was Epta, the youngest girl among the six of them.
The six of them—-
Rhode, Shroud, Atley, Reneedol, Epta, Scarlet[2].
Three males, three females.
Among the three girls, Reneedol was the most powerful, Epta was an expert healer, while Scarlet’s speciality lied in supportive combat.
Noon.
The group of six stopped under the shade of several trees to rest from their journey.
“Let me make something to eat” Gu Qing Shan offered.
Rhode’s cooking skills were extraordinary, so no one objected.
Reneedol pondered for a bit, then offered: “Let me give you a hand”
—–I think I also know how to make food, and apparently quite an expert at it as well.
Gu Qing Shan delightedly said: “Very well, I’ll go hunt a cute little deer. I’ll be skinning it; you can help remove the innards”
Cute little deer.
Remove… innards…
Reneedol gave it some thought before silently giving up on the cooking skills.
—–there’s actually nothing special about cooking, why should I waste my precious time and effort on such a thing?
With a natural expression, she said: “Rhode, I think you should do it alone after all, it’s best that I focus on taking care of Shroud”
Gu Qing Shan was a bit surprised, then said: “That’s true, Shroud’s safety is more important than anything else. Take care of him then, I’ll head out to hunt”
——it seems that while she had obtained all of my abilities, she still wasn’t me.
There are things that are suitable to me, but not to her.
…Earlier, she had already devoured the Grand Elder’s power, so what’s going on with her now?
There are two possibilities.
One, she has both the Grand Elder’s and my powers.
Two, she had lost the Grand Elder’s power, only retaining mine.
If the former was true, that would be terrifying.
If the latter was true, then I need to come up with a way to make her give up on my power of her own accord.
Gu Qing Shan pondered while heading into the forest to hunt.
Scarlet couldn’t help but call out behind him: “Can you not catch a cute little deer?”
Epta also displayed a hopeful expression.
Gu Qing Shan didn’t turn around and just answered them: “Alright then, we won’t eat venison for lunch today”
Without waiting for the girls to sigh in relief, he continued: “——-we’ll eat a cute rabbit instead”
After saying that, his figure flashed before he disappeared into the forest.
Epta and Scarlet both froze.
Cute rabbit.
Can you please not say it like that?
If you put it that way, who would still want to eat!?
“Ah… I’ve never thought of Rhode as such a detestable person like this” Epta gritted her teeth.
“Seriously, no wonder he was able to form a covenant with the Overlord of Death” Scarlet complained.
Hearing that, Reneedol slightly trembled.
Apparently thinking about something, she looked down at Shroud and asked: “How do you feel?”
Shroud replied: “Much better now. I can sense the Law of Radiance helping me heal my body. In about one and a half days, I’ll be able to fully recover”
Reneedol displayed a satisfied smile and softly touched Shroud’s face: “That would be great”
“Are you worried about me?” Shroud asked.
“Of course, your talents are exceptional, so you will definitely become the strongest in the future” Reneedol answered without reserve.
The corners of Shroud’s lips curled up; his smile filled with warmth.
Reneedol softly asked: “Shroud, the Overlord of Death… among the many Overlords, what level of strength would he be considered at?”
While cultivating on one side, Atley heard this and opened his eyes: “I remember hearing the Elders explain that all the Overlords should be of similar strength”
Shroud and Reneedol exchanged glances.
Shroud sighed, then said: “Alright, since we’re the only ones left in the World Valley, I should explain this to you”
“The Elders explained it that way because they didn’t know which Overlord we would form a covenant with in the future. They were afraid that if we knew too much, we would displease some of the Overlords and lead to unnecessary disaster”
“There is actually a difference in power between the numerous Overlords. For example, among the Overlords of the Burning category, the Law of Destruction is naturally the strongest, so the Overlord of Destruction would also be the strongest; or among the Laws in the Growth category, the Law of Healing and Law of Recovery would be the most potent, but they are weaker in combat compared to the Law of Evolution”
This was the first time these young people have heard of this truth, so they didn’t quite understand it.
Reneedol directly asked: “Rhode’s Overlord of Death and your Overlord of Radiance, which is stronger?”
Shroud explained: “The Law of Death is a unique Law in the sense that all other Laws fear it; while the Law of Radiance is the exact opposite, as the majority of Laws wish to stay close to it—– if comparing the power of these two manifestations of Law, they are actually parallels of each other at the strongest level”
“In other words, the two manifestations of Laws are equally powerful?” Reneedol pursued the question.
“Indeed, they’re both exceptionally powerful. Both of them can greatly improve Rhode’s and my strengths” Shroud affirmed.
Reneedol fell into thought.
Atley then commented: “But Shroud had been able to enter the World of Laws since long ago, his talents had decided that he should be far ahead of Rhode”
Epta grumbled: “That’s right, a covenant carrier like Shroud would also gain the favor and support of a lot of Overlords, unlike Rhode who can make people unhappy just by cooking”
Scarlet also nodded.
Reneedol thought for a bit, then finally smiled: “That’s true, we can’t just consider the Overlord. In truth, the talents and characteristics of the covenant carrier is the real determining factor of their ultimate achievements”
Her gaze towards Shroud slowly became gentler.
At another location.
Gu Qing Shan had flown across a small mountain, landing on top of a branch of a tree.
He casually swiped his hand through the leaves and pulled out a colorful-patterned snake that was over 10-meter long.
“I found the soup base, now to look for something to make the side dishes” Gu Qing Shan muttered.
He glanced around, then suddenly lowered his body as if he sensed something.
Tock!
An arrow pierced deeply into the tree right above the branch he previously stood on.
“Damned brat, you’re a sharp one”
A voice begrudgingly grumbled.
Gu Qing Shan looked a bit further away and saw a burly man carrying a set of bow and arrows, glaring ferociously at him.
“I don’t think I know you, why did you attack me?” Gu Qing Shan cautiously asked.
The burly man was wearing a set of tattered armor that was still tainted with blood as if he had just returned from a battlefield.
“Why I attacked you? Why do I need a reason to do such a thing?”
The man grumbled, then put his finger on his lip and blew a whistle.
Over a dozen Professionists showed themselves from the forest.
They were all similar to the burly man, each of them looked relatively tattered, as if they had just been through a desperate battle.
“What are you waiting for! Kill him!”
“I haven’t eaten anything for so long! Kill him!” someone called out.
“After running for so long, we’re finally safe. We need something to recover our strength with” another person loudly shouted
All of them were very noisy.
The burly man shouted: “Halt! You idiots, we need to capture him and ask if he has any companions; if yes—–”
He didn’t say anything else, but the others all understood.
They became silent.
The burly man cleared his throat and looked at Gu Qing Shan: “Brat… do you want to live?”
Gu Qing Shan scanned through these people with his gaze and chuckled: “Seven martial artists, three weapon wielders—— from how you all look, did you take advantage of the time when the Laws lost their effects to do something but ended up being beaten to the point that you had to flee after the Laws returned to normal?”
All of them stayed silent.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” Gu Qing Shan shrugged.
“Kill him first! If he has any companions, they would definitely not be too far away” someone suggested.
“Right, we’re going to kill him!” the burly man shouted.
They all rushed towards Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan didn’t use his sword, or martial arts.
Reneedol could recognize all of them, and she could easily use her inner sight to check this place at any moment.
I can’t expose myself.
So the only choice is…
He held onto the colorful snake with one hand and picked up a dry branch on the ground.
Hoh!
A scorching black flame began to spread onto the branch before fully enveloping it.
The power of Death!
This was the Death Origin power of this world; how could a few foot soldiers stop it?
While Gu Qing Shan was studying the power of Death, some flames manifested as text in front of his eyes:
[I remember you saying that you normally don’t kill people]
Gu Qing Shan’s lips twitched, then sighed and said: “Couldn’t help it this time”
The group of people was already about to reach him.
He swung the dry branch.
Fwoom!
The black scorching flames swept through everything in front of him.
The Professionists were completely erased together with a part of the forest.
All living things died without exception.
The land was completely dried up.
A very large patch of empty land.
[1] Epta’s original name was Qi Ruo -柒若-, which literally translates to Seven If. As an artistic choice to stick with the western naming scheme of characters in this arc, we’ve used the Greek word for number seven as her name
[2] Similar to Epta, Scarlet’s original name was Chi Hu -赤鹄-, which literally translate to Crimson Swan. For similar reasons to Epta, her name has been localized as Scarlet